Apparatus and method for winding wire on coils

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method for winding wire on coils is disclosed in which the apparatus includes a wire winding device and a coil reception device. Means are provided for maintaining an axial force on the end of the coil disposed on the wire winding device and a support means for maintaining an axial force on the other end of the coil disposed on the coil reception device. Operating means are provided for moving the support means to release the axial force on the other end of the coil thereby causing movement of the coil on the coil reception device and actuating means are provided to activate the operating means in response to an increase in the axial forces on the coil.

0 ,01 United States Patent 11 1 [111 3,735,% Coopman 1 any 29, 1973 [541 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR 3,490,713 1 1970 Nystrom ..242 s2 WINDING WIRE 0 COILS 3,093,339 6/1963 Godderidge.... ..242/82 3,542,307 11 1970 S h tz ..242 83 [75] Inventor: Frans Coopman, B 8730 Harelbeke, c ue I Belglum Primary Examiner-George F. Mautz [73] Assignee: N.V. Bekaert S.A., Zwevegam, Assistant Examiner McCarthy 7 Belgium Attorney-Brenner, OBrien & Guay [22] Filed: July 12, 1971 [57] ABSTRACT [2]] Appl' 161322 An apparatus and method for winding wire on coils is disclosed in which the apparatus includes a wire wind- [30] Foreign Application Priority Data ing device and a coil reception device. Means are prol 20 970 F 7 7026615 vided for maintaining an axial force on the end of the u y tame coil disposed on the wire winding device and a support means for maintaining an axial force on the other end (SI. of the coil disposed on the Coil reception device. [58] d 1 79 Operating means are provided for movingthe support e m means to release the axial force on the other end of the coil thereby causing movement of the coil on the coil reception device and actuating means are pro- [56] References Cited vided to activate the operating means in response to UNITED STATES PATENTS an increase in the axial forces on the coil.

2,991,956 7/1961 Bruestle ..242/82 10 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures X 29 3O 28 27 7 8\ E [I 4 9d 1 I 9 33 1 26 34 i 35 i 46 If: .L,

0 I iv F 44 42 1 I P 1 Patented May 29, 1973 3,735,938

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented May 29, 1973 3,735,938

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR WINDING WIRE ON COILS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention THe present invention relates to winding wire on coils and more particularly to an apparatus and method for winding large coils of metal wire at high speeds.

2. Description of the Prior Art In the manufacturing of metal wire, there is normally a need to wind the wire produced into coils. Various methods have been proposed and applied, such as the winding on spools, or on small size bundles or coils that are removable by hand, and the winding on reels that need mechanical means of transport. In the winding process, consideration must be given to the productivity or efficiency of the operation, taking into consideration production'speed and the weight and compactness of the coils produced.

There are several conventional methods employed for winding-metal wire on spools. A first type of device employed involves a die turning around a fixed drum with a horizontal axis. A second type of device consist of asuspended winding-drum which turns around a vertical axis. The windings formed by both types of devices fall around a reel due to the effect of gravity.

The apparatus of the second type is generally preferred when a wire is employed which cannot stand any torsion during manufacturing. In this case, the reel is rotated around its axis synchronously with the windingdrum. However, the conventional apparatus of this second type has the disadvantage of having a low winding speed. Thus, at high speed, the windings formed deviate more and more from the winding-drum under the action of the centrifugal force and fall down around the reel in a disordered way. Further, they may cause a lack of balance in the mechanical equipment with a very disturbing noise in the workshop. This disadvantage may partially be eliminated by means of a sliding plate within the reel. In this method the windings produced by the winding-drum fall down upon the radial arms of the plate which extend through longitudinal slits in the reel and may in this manner catch the mentioned windings at a proper height from the ground. However, this solutions does not suffice to deliver a large size compact coil, nor to allow manufacturing at high speed, ranging about 600 m/minute, for example, for steel wire.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION THe present invention is embodied in an apparatus adapted to wind a wire into a coil, which comprises wire winding means adapted to wind a coil of wire, coil reception means adapted to'receive the coil of wire from the wire winding means, means associated with the wire winding means for maintaining an axial force on on end of the coil, support means associated with the wire reception means for maintaining an axial force on the other end of the coil, operating means associated with the wire reception means to provide movement of the support means to release the axial force on the other end of the coil to thereby cause movement of the coil on the coil reception means, and actuating means associated with said wire winding means to activate the operating means in response to an incrase in the axial forces on the coil.

The method of the present invention involves the steps of winding a wire into a coil on a wire winding means, passing the coil as it is formed from the wire winding means to a coil reception means, maintaining an axial force on one end of the coil on the wire winding means, maintaining an axial force on the other end of the coil on the coil reception means, detecting an increased axial force on the coil as the wire is wound on the wire winding means, and releasing the axial force on the other end of the coil in response to the detecting step to thereby permmit movement of the coil from the wire winding means on the coil reception means.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for winding wire into a coil at high winding speeds.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for winding wire into large coils of relatively great weight.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view in partial cross-section showing an installation incorporating an apparatus in accordance with the present invention for winding wire on coils;

FIG. 2 is a partial horizontalsection of the apparatus of the present invention taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing removal of a wound coil of wire from the apparatus of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical cross-section of the upper portion of the apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention will be described as applied to equipment for winding coils of a metal wire that is produced from a drawing bunch. The manufactured wire 1 is passed around a series of winches of which only the last winch 2 is shown. From this winch, the wire is guided by means of pulleys 3 and 4 towards winder E, constructed in accordance with the presentinvention, where the wire 1 passes through a die in a die-holder 6. In addition to a diameter reduction, this die assures that wire 1 will be placed undervthe tension necessary for its winding in apparatus E. 1

Apparatus E includes two major parts, namely an upper part or wire winding device I and a lower part or wire reception device II.

Winding device I includes, underneath a housing fixed at frame 8, a suspended winding drum 9. This winding drum 9 includes three parts which are in axial alignment with each other.

The first part of winding drum 9 includes a rotatable drive member or upper support 9a disposed on a vertical shaft 10 (FIG. 4), which pivots through the medium of bearings 11, 12 in a cylindrical shaft 13, linked to housing 7. The shaft 10 is supported by an upper flange 14 which rests on the lower bearing 12 forming a block stop by means of nave 15 of a wheel 16 of the internal ring of bearing 11 and of a cross-piece 17. The shaft 10 is rotated by a motor (not shown) by means of a transmission gear with screws 18 which interlocks with peripheric teeth 19 of wheel 16.

The second part of winding drum 9 includes a winding member or plate 9b disposed in slideable relation to support 9a by bolts 20 and compression springs 21 which allow a relative vertical axial movement of winding plate 912 in relation to the support 9a. The plate 9b comprises at its periphery a flange that forms a lug 22 I with a lower surface 23 in the shape of a truncated cone, followed by a surface 24 generally in the shape of a cylinder and surface 25 generally in the shape of a truncated cone;

The third part of the winding drum 9 includes a coupling member or circular cylinder 90, vertically movable in relation to both previous members 9a and 9b. Circular cylinder 90 is fixed by radial arms 26 at the end of an axial bar 27, suspended on a pivotal connection 28 which is ataached to a lever 29. The lever 29 is pivotable on pin 30 and linked by cable or other equivalent means 31 to an operating mechanism 32. Cylinder 9c is slideably disposed by means of coupled teeth 33 and 34 in relation to plate 9b, and is extended downward by driving teeth or arms the function of which will be described in further detail hereinafter.

Wire reception device II includes in the vertical axis XX of the winding drum 9 and under it, a fixed structure formed by a hole 36 and a shaft 37. At the top of hole 36, two rails 39 are disposed on-which a wheeled carriage 40 may be moved to the left or right in FIG. 1. Carriage 40 includes a block stop 41 (FIG. 1) with bearing elements on which a removable reel 42 rests on its bearing surface 43. The reel 42, which is designed to turn around its vertical axis, includes a plurality, for example four, wide vertical slots 44, on the extreme ends of which can gear, in low position, teeth 35 of the cylinder 90 of winding drum 9 to rotate reel 42, in synchronism with this drum. Radial arms 45 of a receiving plate 46 are disposed in slideable relationship with slots 44. It will be noted that receiving plate 46 may in turn be rotated by winding drum 9.

The plate 46 revolves on bearings at the upper extreme end of a vertical suspension rod 48 which can be moved up and down in shaft 37 under the action of an operating machanism (not shown). The rod 48 includes a longitudinal rack 49, which gears with two chainwheels 50. The chain-wheels 50 are driven by an electrical motor reducing gear 51 having two running directions (the feeding circuits of this motor are not shown as they are of a standard type with conventional end switches). In the descending direction of plate 46, the circuit is controlled by a switch 52 (FIG. 4) which is carried by housing 7 and which can be closed by a block stop 53, carried by plate 9b of drum 9, when it reaches a predetermined upper position, and re-opened with a certain elay when cylinder 90 comes down again, as will be explained in greater detail hereinafter.

The operation of the apparatus of the present invention is as follows. At the beginning of a winding operation, the first windings of wire 1 to be wound are temporarily attached to winding drum 9 by conventional means (not shown) such as clamps that are mounted for that purpose. Then, after the first windings are produced, reel 42 is coupled to drum 9 by movement of device 32 and lever 29 that allows cylinder 9c of the 6 which raises shaft 48. The wound up end of wire 1 is then detached from the clamps of the drum 9 and fixed to reel 42, near its top.

The first windings slide along surfaces 24 and 25 which have the shape of a cylinder and a truncated cone onto arms 45 of plate 46. The following windings keep on falling spirally over the surfaces 24 and 25 of the winding drum 9. Each new winding from above continuously exerts a pressure from top to bottom upon the previous windings to make them slide over the surfaces 24 and 25 of plate 9b of the winding drum 9.

However, the spiral winding soon reaches surface 23 formed by a sharply shaped flange or lug 22 on the drum 9. The resultant jamming effect between this surface 23 and the previous winding causes an affect in which each new winding exerts, on the one hand, a downward axial force or pressure on the whole of the spiral winding keeping this winding under the axial compression required and, on the other hand, an upward axial force or pressure on plate 9b of the winding drum, in opposition to the action of springs 21, which are progressively compressed.

As soon as the springs 21 are under compression, the produced windings of wire 1 are kept under a relatively constant pressure between lower plate 46 and flange 22 of the winding drum. Thereafter, as springs 21 reach their predetermined maximum compression ratio, by the maximum rising of plate 9b, the block stop 53 closes the electric switch contactor 52. This step starts the descent of shaft 48 and, next, of plate 46, until the plate 9b, under the effect of springs 21, goes back to its initial lower position. Switch contactor 52 only reopens with a predetermined delay. The compression ratio then has its minimum value. Thus, the produced windings are always compressed between plate 46 and flange 22 of plate 9b.

The cycle then starts again and the process continues in this way until plate 46 which operates in a stepped movement reaches its lowest position. At that point reel 42 (FIG. 3) has a compact and complete load 54 of metal wire windings. Reel 42 of winding drum 9 is then uncoupled from winding drum 9 by lifting coupling cylinder by means of lever 29 (H6. 3) and carriage 40 is removed to the right with the full reel 42. It is then replaced with a new empty reel.

The present invention may be utilized generally for winding wires of various types (such as those made of metal, plastic, etc.) into coils. In the case of metal wires it is possible to utilize the present apparatus, which is of a suspended winding drum and reel type, to wind the wire at high speed and in large compact units with a weight in the range of 2,000 Kg., for example.

Inasmuch as the present invention is subject to many modifications, variations and changes in detail, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus adapted to wind a wire into a coil which comprises wire winding means adapted to wind a coil of wire,

coil reception means adapted to receive said coil of wire from said wire winding means,

means for maintaining an axial force on one end of said coil on said wire winding means,

support means for maintaining an axial force on the other end of said coil on said wire reception means,

operating means operatively connected to said support means to provide movement of said support means to release said axial force on said other end of said coil to thereby cause movement of said coil on said coil reception means, and

actuating means operatively connected to said operating means to activate said operating means in response to an increase in the axial forces on said coil.

2. The invention as defined by claim 1 including means for engaging and disengaging said coil winding means from said wire reception means.

3. Apparatus adapted to wind a wire into a coil which comprises i a wire winding device including a rotatable drive member, a winding member and a coupling member,

said rotatable drive member having an operating position for engaging and rotating said winding member,

said winding member having an operating position for engaging and rotating said coupling member,

a compression means disposed between said rotatable drive member and said winding member,

a coil reception device including a hollow reel member and a receiving plate member,

said hollow member having a plurality of longitudinal slots in its periphery, said receiving plate member having an axial element adapted to be disposed within the interior of said hollow reel member and a plurality of radial arm elements adapted to extend through said slots,

said coupling member having an operating position for engaging said hollow reel member and for rotating said coil reception device,

operating means operatively connected to said receiving plate member to move said receiving plate member in slideable axial relationship with said hollow reel member, and

actuating means operatively connected to said operating means to activate said operating means-in response to movement of said winding member against said compression means.

4. The invention as defined in claim 3 in which said winding member has a flange in the shape of a truncated cone and an outer surface partly in the shape of a cylinder and partly in the shape of a truncated cone.

5. The invention as defined by claim 3 including means for engaging and disengaging said winding device from said coil reception device.

6. The invention as defined by claim 5 including means for removing a hollow reel member wound with wire and for installing a hollow reel member to be wound with wire.

7. The invention as defined by claim 3 in which said compression means includes a plurality of compression springs.

8. The invention as defined by claim 3 in which said winding member is provided with a plurality of teeth on its lower edge which are adapted to engage said plurality of longitudinal slots in said hollow reel member to impart rotating action to said coil reception device.

9. The invention as defined by claim 3 in which said actuating means is designed to provide a stepped movement of said operating means.

10. A method for winding wire into a coil which comprises winding a wire into a coil on a wire winding means, passing said coil as it is formed from said wire winding means to a coil reception means, maintaining an axial force on one end of said coil on said wire winding means, maintaining an axial force on the other end of said coil on said coil reception means, detecting an increased axial force on said coil as said wire is wound on said wire winding means, and releasing said axial force on said other end of said coil in response to said detecting step to thereby permit movement of said coil from said wire winding means onto said coil reception means. 

1. Apparatus adapted to wind a wire into a coil which comprises wire winding means adapted to wind a coil of wire, coil reception means adapted to receive said coil of wire from said wire winding means, means for maintaining an axial force on one end of said coil on said wire winding means, support means for maintaining an axial force on the other end of said coil on said wire reception means, operating means operatively connected to said support means to provide movement of said support means to release said axial force on said other end of said coil to thereby cause movement of said coil on said coil reception means, and actuating means operatively connected to said operating means to activate said operating means in response to an increase in the axial forces on said coil.
 2. The invention as defined by claim 1 including means for engaging and disengaging said coil winding means from said wire reception means.
 3. Apparatus adapted to wind a wire into a coil which comprises a wire winding device including a rotatable drive member, a winding member and a coupling member, said rotatable drive member having an operating position for engaging and rotating said winding member, said winding member having an operating position for engaging and rotating said coupling member, a compression means disposed between said rotatable drive member and said winding member, a coil reception device including a hollow reel member and a receiving plate member, said hollow member having a plurality of longitudinal slots in its periphery, said receiving plate member having an axial element adapted to be disposed within the interior of said hollow reel member and a plurality of radial arm elements adapted to extend through said slots, said coupling member having an operating position for engaging said hollow reel member and for rotating said coil reception device, operating means operatively connected to said receiving plate member to move said receiving plate member in slideable axial relationship with said hollow reel member, and actuating means operatively connected to said operating means to activate said operating means in response to movement of said winding member against said compression means.
 4. The invention as defined in claim 3 in which said winding member has a flange in the shape of a truncated cone and an outer surface partly in the shape of a cylinder and partly in the shape of a truncated cone.
 5. The invention as defined by claim 3 including means for engaging and disengaging said winding device from said coil reception device.
 6. The invention as defined by claim 5 including means for removing a hollow reel member wound with wire and for installing a hollow reel member to be wound with wire.
 7. The invention as defined by claim 3 in which said compression means includes a plurality of compression springs.
 8. The invention as defined by claim 3 in which said winding member is provided with a plurality of teeth on its lower edge which are adapted to engage said plurality of longitudinal slots in said hollow reel member to impart rotating action to said coil reception device.
 9. The invention as defined by claim 3 in which said actuating means is designed to provide a stepped movement of said operating means.
 10. A method for winding wire into a coil which comprises winding a wire into a coil on a wire winding means, passing said coil as it is formed from said wire winding means to a coil reception means, maintaining an axial force on one end of said coil on said wire winding means, maintaining an axial force on the other end of said coil on said coil reception means, detecting an increased axial force on said coil as said wire is wound on said wire winding means, and releasing said axial force on said other end of said coil in response to said detecting step to thereby permit movement of said coil from said wire winding means onto said coil reception means. 